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Faculty members Tom Hammett and Henry Quesada from the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech participated as speakers and session chairs in IUFRO All Division 5.0 (Forest products) held in Estoril, Portugal during July. The five-day conference’s goal was to serve as a global forum to discuss the major issues affecting forest and forest products. As over 500 scientists from 62 countries attended to present their research it was good to have representatives from Virginia tech in attendance. Dr. Quesada’s led a technical session, Buying into Sustainability, that was crafted to reflect on how current research and industry developments are incorporating sustainability into product, manufacturing, and business processes. Five speakers presented selected research developments on life cycle analysis, efficient sawmilling and kiln drying techniques, strategic sustainability, and safety issues for wood products industries.

Drs. Hammett and Quesada enjoy a break with Drs. Gazo and Haviarova from Purdue University during the IUFRO Division 5.0 Conference in Estoril, Portugal

Aug. 6, 2012 – Dr. Hammett organized and moderated two separate technical sessions — each focused on different aspects of current research in non-wood forest products (NWFPs). He also presented two invited papers — one on Appalachian NWFPs and the other on his green business class co-authored with Dan Hindman. As the Coordinator of the NWFPs Research Group (IUFRO 5.11) he organized and led a business meeting for other researchers at the Conference. He also presented report to the IUFRO Division 5 coordinators on the status of the NWFP Research Group.

For both Hammett and Quesada this conference was a valuable setting to present and discuss status of their forest products research to collaborators and colleagues in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Tom Hammett (back left) leads a business meeting for the IUFRO Non-wood Forest products Research Group in Estoril, Portugal.